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Orange County Nutrition Alert Coalition
Meeting Minutes
January 8, 2003
Members Present: Isabel Simard, Arlene
Hoffman, Don Paulin, Vaughn Rees, Gina Libby,
Julie Mortimore,
Eleanor Huang, Ann Stahl, Kitchie Ramos, Rosario Quintanilla,
Ada Schulz
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Agenda Item |
Discussion |
Action |
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Introductions Welcome/members and guest introductions |
All members introduced themselves and talked about
what they do. Gina Libby is a new member. |
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Review of previous minutes |
July 10th meeting minutes – Add the date to
the minutes. Sea Silver: put a period after patients. Herb sway should
read Herbasway. Should be sells instead of cell. Honorary PhD not
Honorarium in an engineering subject. Meeting minutes approved with
changes by Arlene Hoffman and second by Gina Libby.
September 12, 2002 meeting minutes – Add the date to
the minutes. Second page second paragraph add "d" to "dru" to spell
drug. Add Bill to the article about Simon. Change "What is" to "What
if." Don Paulin approves the minutes with changes and Eleanor Huang
seconds.
November 13, 2002 meeting minutes – change Dr. Freeman
to Dr. Freedman. Minutes approves with changes by Ann Stahl and second
by Vaughn Rees.
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Review agenda items |
Kitchie will talk about the skinny pill. |
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Announcement |
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2nd Annual quackery Luncheon |
The 2nd Annual Quackery Luncheon will be
the 14th of January 2003. Bill Liu pharmacist will discuss
medication and dietary supplement interaction. We will give awards,
networking, discussion of accomplishments and activities to come.
Price will be $12. |
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Spring conference
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May 2, 2003 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Raffle will be
better for space. Do the raffle at the registration and during the
conference/breaks/lunch. Next planning meeting will be January 15,
2003 from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. |
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Articles for Nutrition Times |
Deadline for articles is May 15, 2003. |
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Essay Contest Judges needed |
Arlene Hoffman will be a judge. |
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Member sharing
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PDF website will be sent to the list.
Articles:
Skinny pills – by Kitchie – Developed by Edita Kaye, who claims to be
America’s favorite nutritionist. Diet pill is for kids age 6 to 12 to
help them lose weight. No license as a dietitian. Product contains
diuretics (3) and hazardous for children at young age. It can cause
electrolyte imbalance. Higher levels of niacin than DRI, which can
cause liver damage. She is misleading people and is also thinking in
making a pill for teenagers.
Senate Bill 1884 – labeling will be different. The Medwatch phone
number needs to be on the label. Section 110423 of the DHS website.
When they visit the companies they write it up and they can correct
it. After they can take action. They go if there is a complaint or if
they are due for an inspection. Consumer complaint line:
1-800-495-3232. A recording is available, but someone gets back to the
complaint. As long as its sold in California and specially if they are
manufactured in California.
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Presentation and Reports |
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Ann Stahl – FTC updates
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Body Solutions is being sued by the FTC. They sold for
$190 million. They have even begun to sell the product through Walmart,
K-Mart and Walgreens. The product claims you can eat anything you want
such as donuts and other junk foods. They filed for bankruptcy in
September 2002. All the money is in a trust and if FTC wins, the money
will go back to consumers. They need evidence to support their claims
if they want to make any.
Blue stuff – cream that claims to relieve severe pain.
They have 30-minute infomercials. Active ingredients include menthol.
They need to give back $3 million. In order to give the money back.
They have to hire a 3rd party organization to give the
money back to consumers.
Truck alliance – were sued due to a pyramid scam.
Products are phony nutrition products. A phony doctor was also making
claims. They were shut down.
Breast enhancement was also sued. They were
advertising on infomercials. The system was a topical cream and
supplements. People paid $100 - $500 for a 6-month supply. Only got
$50,000 total since that’s all they claim to have. Avalanche clause –
if they find out they have money they will be fined, may involve jail
time. They stopped from making the claims.
FTC has weight loss workshops. Can go online to get
information. Learn what we can do for nutrition fraud.
FDA and FTC joined and announced a consumer initiative
to eliminate bogus claims.
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Rosario Quintanilla Vior – FDA updates |
FDA finally got a commissioner, Dr. Mark McClellan. Kick off
initiative called ------------- to better inform consumers to help
them make better choices. See release initiative information. Makers
need to provide science-based information. They will be more active in
terms of enforcement. Need to be enough scientific research behind the
claims on products. Health claims for dietary supplements will be
screened by the FDA. It will strengthen dietary supplement rules.
Many young adults get contact lenses through swap meets and have
problems with their eyes.
Legally you cannot import drugs from another country unless it is
manufactured in the USA. If it’s not here it’s an illegal drug. Even
if it’s here and sold in another country since the labeling is
different and is in another language, it’s not approved by the FDA.
Yellow jacket promoter. Sent a cyber letter to monitor internet sales.
See handout.
Claims to treat autism. See handout.
Seizure of supplements of natural treatment of the flu/cold.
FDA is pushing medwatch. You need people to report health problems.
Even if it’s been reported, report it. The more reports they have, the
better they are to take action.
Putting the pieces together – nutrition and HIV.
New handout on weight loss
Food safety
Bioterrorism
May start moving in Sept. 2003. They will have a bigger and more
impressive conference room. Will become regional laboratory. They have
about 80 new investigators.
AARP bulleting by Don Paulin – scam alert Dr. Lauren day in San
Francisco and so call cure for cancer. |
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Next meeting schedule |
Adjourned 11:10 a.m.
Next meeting will be March 12, 2003. |
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